Hi Michael,
thanks a lot, this looks very, very promising! I will fine tune it a bit
more and then send it back to this list. The great thing is that you can
also adapt it for other brass instruments e.g. tuba, French horn etc. I
think the Lilypond code for my sheet music is often ugly too, and some
geeks here would probably roll their eyes. But the main thing is that it
works and the output is pretty (the music engraving is really wonderful
(has to be said), which is why I torture myself with Lilypond then and
don't always use MuseScore).
By the way, the tones of brass instruments are created by the vibrations
of the lips... which also makes playing difficult and from a certain
pitch quite exhausting. The tube is the amplifier, the slide or valves
modify the tube length. It's almost like singing, with the vocal folds
vibrating, and the oral cavity and throat as the amplifier, plus the
tongue and jaw as the modifier …somewhat simplistically speaking. That's
just as a note, because a lot of people think you're just blowing air in
and pushing something 😉
Kind regards
and thanks again
Andreas
Am 30.08.2023 um 08:29 schrieb Michael Werner:
On Sat, Aug 26, 2023 at 8:45 AM samarutuk <samaru...@aim.com> wrote:
Hello,
I have been looking for a long time for a way to automatically
annotate slide positions or fingerings for brass instruments below
or above the notes. There have been one or two requests for this,
but never a complete solution, at least the oracle of Google has
not been able to tell me anything wise.
Hi Andreas,
I'm not all that great at all this, but I managed to put something
together that seems to do what you're asking for. It's based on some
code I wrote for myself a little while back to automatically do tin
whistle fingering diagrams. It runs in a NoteNames context, and can be
placed either above or below the staff - whichever you want. It ain't
pretty, and it sure ain't elegant. But it does the job. I've attached
the two include files - one for trumpet, one for trombone. Place them
wherever works for you, then include them into your score with the
usual \include command.
One caveat for you to bear in mind - the trumpet fingerings and the
trombone slide positions are based on charts I found via Google
searches. I don't play either of them. My knowledge of brass
instruments is pretty much that you blow in one end, sound comes out
the other end, and there's fiddly bits in the middle you mess around
with to change the sound.
If nothing else, perhaps these can serve as a starting point for
someone that knows more about these instruments.
Some example code showing the use of these files:
\version "2.25.7"
\language "english"
\include "trombone_slide_positions.ily"
\include "trumpet_fingerings.ily"
trombone_music = \relative c, {
c4 cs df d ds ef e f fs gf g gs af a as bf b c cs df d ds ef e f fs gf g
gs af a as bf b c cs df d ds ef e f fs gf g gs af a as bf b cf c cs df d
}
trumpet_music = \relative c' {
d,4 ef e f fs4 gf g gs af a4 as bf b c4 cs df d ef e f fs gf g
gs af a as bf b c cs df d ds ef e f fs gf g gs af a as bf b
c cs df d ds ef e f fs g gs af a as
}
\score {
\new StaffGroup <<
\new NoteNames {
%#(define myFontSize -5) % this line would override the size of
the slide positions produced
\set noteNameFunction = #myTrombonePositions
\trombone_music
}
\new Staff {
\clef "bass"
\trombone_music
}
>>
}
\score {
\new StaffGroup <<
<<
\new NoteNames {
%#(define myFontSize -5) % this line would override the size
of the fingerings produced
\set noteNameFunction = #myTrumpetFingerings
\trumpet_music
}
\new Staff {
\trumpet_music
}
>>
>>
}
Hopefully this will at least give you a starting point to work with.
--
Michael
